How To Make Crab Cakes in Air Fryer

Air fryer crab cakes are so delicious, EASY, and healthy. This version uses pork rinds instead of bread crumbs for the crust, resulting in a crispy outside and tender inside. Oh yum. Bonus! these babies are gluten-free, low carb, and keto-friendly - AND - they can be cooked from fresh or frozen!

Pin

Watch: Making Air Fryer Crab Cakes

Best Crab Cakes in The Air Fryer!

"My favorite crab cake recipe! Being from the Pacific Northwest, crab was abundant, and my Grandmother used to fry us up some delicious crab cakes when we were at her house. I came up with this easy and less messy variation cooked in an air fryer! I wonder what Grandma would say about that?" -Kori 🙂

Super Easy and Quick. Only 10 ingredients and less than 15 minutes in your air fryer and you'll be enjoying these air fried crab cakes.

No Mess No Oil Frying. Making crab cakes in air fryer is a breeze - they are simple to make and easy to clean up. The beauty of cooking in your air fryer is that cooking is a lot less messy than traditional frying. There's no oil to add or store after cooking.

Make Ahead and Freezable. These air fried crab cakes can be made ahead of time then frozen for later. You can cook the frozen crab cakes in your air fryer when ready!

Be sure to save this pin to Pinterest for later! 😉

Low Carb Keto Crab Cakes. This recipe is uses crushed pork rinds instead of breadcrumbs making these very low carb - only 1.4 grams carbs - gluten-free, sugar-free, low carb, and keto. Ta-da! Healthy low carb keto crab cakes that are so good no one will even realize they're eating something healthy. 🙂

Interested in keto? Get my FREE keto food guide and grocery shopping list. It's a great quick glance guide you can print off for your fridge or save the pdf on your phone for when you are out and about!

Crab Cake Recipe Air Fryer Ingredients

Here's what you'll need to make air fryer crab cakes:

• Crab Meat - buy the fresh crab meat that has been pasteurized. You can use any kind - small bits or lump crab meat. Do not use imitation crab meat.
• Parmesan Cheese - Use the finely grated parmesan cheese.
• Mayonnaise - I used avocado oil mayonnaise but any favorite mayo will do.
• Egg -the binding ingredient in this recipe
• Fresh Chives - I used fresh in this recipe but you could substitute dried. You can also use finely chopped green onion. Rule of thumb for herbs: 1 tablespoon of fresh herbs = 1 teaspoon dried
• Fresh Dill - fresh dill has a slightly better flavor than dried, but you can substitute dried dill.
• Old Bay Seasoning - this is a classic seasoning that give these crab cakes that perfect seasoning I remember my Grandma using when we were growing up.
• Kosher Salt or Sea Salt
• Ground Black Pepper
• Original Flavored Pork Rinds - I wanted a little more texture in this recipe so I used regular pork rinds and crushed them in a plastic bag. This gave me a variety of larger pieces and finely crushed - making the perfect crab cake crust! Feel free to use seasoned panko bread crumbs if you are not following a low carb plan, or you can use pork panko.
• Olive Oil Cooking Spray - I use a good quality 100% extra virgin olive oil spray to coat the carb cakes evenly - it works like a charm! If you don't have spray, you can drizzle olive oil over the top.
• Optional - lemon wedges and Creamy Dill Dressing for dipping crab cakes

Equipment

• Air Fryer - I've been using a Ninja Foodi for air frying, slow cooking, and pressure cooking so I could pair down to one appliance! 🙂 These air fryer crab cakes turned out tender on the inside and crispy outside.

Substitutions and Variations

Here are some different ways you can make substitutions or customize your air fryer crab cakes:

• Substitute pork panko or panko bread crumbs. If you don't want to crush your own rinds feel free to use pork panko. If you are not following a low-carb keto diet, then you can also use seasoned panko bread crumbs. I think the best taste comes from crushing your own pork rinds, however. So, if you've never tried it, I highly recommend it regardless of what diet your might be following. 🙂
• Try substituting a different kind of finely grated cheese. The key is that the cheese has to be very finely ground.
• Add up to 2 tablespoons of finely chopped red bell pepper.
• Want a little more spice? You can add a few drops of hot sauce.
• Add 1 teaspoon of dijon mustard or lemon juice for a little more tang. Whether I add this, depends on the brand of mayonnaise you use. Some mayo is tangy so you don't need to add mustard or lemon juice. (I used Better Foods Avocado Oil Mayonnaise).
• Experiment with other salted seasoning blends if you don't like Old Bay Seasoning.
• Swap out different herbs. The dill is a key flavor in this recipe, so I don't recommend replacing it unless you don't like to dill it at all. Parsley makes a great substitute for chives if you prefer.

How To Air Fry Crab Cakes

Here's how to make air fryer crab cakes...so easy! 🙂

Crush The Pork Rinds

Preheat your air fryer to 360 degrees F for 5 minutes.

Place 2 ounces of pork rinds in a plastic bag and crush using the back side of a bowl or a rolling pin, until they are crushed.

You can finely crush, or you can leave some larger bits and pieces mixed in - which is my favorite way. You'll love the crunch they give to the crab cakes!

Place pork rinds in a bowl.

Make the Crab Cake Mixture

In a medium-sized bowl, mix the crab meat, parmesan cheese, mayonnaise, egg, chives, dill, Old Bay seasoning, salt, and pepper.

Divide mixture into fourths and firmly press together forming 4 approximately 1" thick patties.

Coat with Pork Rind

Press each crab cake into the bowl of pork rinds. Remove and then press the coating firmly into the crab cake. Repeat with the second side.

Air Fry The Crab Cakes

Place the crab cakes in the air fryer basket and spritz with olive oil cooking spray.

Air fry for 5 minutes, turn the crab cakes over and spritz the other side with olive oil spray.

Continue cooking for an additional 5 minutes or until golden brown and heated through.

How To Serve

Here are a few delicious ideas of what to serve with your air fried crab cakes:

Make Creamy Dill Dressing as a dipping sauce for your crab cakes and as a salad dressing for a side salad. Also tastes great with our homemade Thousand Island Dressing.

Crab cakes can be served as an appetizer or starter. You can make smaller appetizer-sized crab cakes by adjusting the cooking time down slightly. Don't forget the dill sauce for dipping, see above note.

Top Tips

• Add 1 teaspoon of dijon mustard or lemon juice for a little more tang. Whether I add this, depends on the brand of mayonnaise you use. Some mayo is tangy so you don't need to add mustard or lemon juice. (I used Better Foods Avocado Oil Mayonnaise).
• Firmly press crab cakes together - this will help prevent them from falling apart.
• Press the pork rind coating into the crab cakes to help it stay on better.
• By using an olive oil cooking spray instead of drizzling the olive oil you can get a much more ven coating and crispiness on your wings. Make sure to use a good quality 100% olive spray.
• Each air fryer is a little different so adjust your cooking times as needed.

FAQs

If you tried these Air Fryer Crab Cakes, I'd love for you to come back and give them a star rating and/or a review in the comments. Let's stay connected, so please share photos of your creations with me & others on Instagram, Facebook, and Pinterest! 🙂

📖 The recipe.

More Recipes You'll Love

• Air Fryer Salmon Patties
• Air Fryer Fajita Spiced Chicken Wings
• Keto Chicken Tenders (Air Fryer + Oven)
• Parmesan Crusted Air Fryer Tilapia
• Air Fryer Green Beans
• Air Fryer Frozen Green Beans
• Crockpot Green Beans and Ham
• Juicy Air Fryer Bone-In Pork Chops